I was playing a nice User Showcase song today, and when it finished another one started - which I also recognized as a User Showcase song - so I just left things on in a jukebox mode. I guess this feature was just the site (soundcloud etc) having some algorithm that plays other songs from the same customer or something.

Anyway, it got me thinking that it would be cool if User Showcase songs could play as a "radio" - jukebox (with the composers permission of course). Since the songs are hosted on all kinds of different sites, I'm wondering if/how this could be done.

So I'm asking for input:
- does this sound like a good idea?
- do have suggestions for how it should work... Should it just play songs at random in any genre or ? Likely be good to have a country user showcase station for example, and another for rock or jazz.
- does anyone know of software that would help with this? For example. Maybe soundcloud or somewhere else has a feature like this. Or there is off-the-shelf software or site to build a radio station from a list of song links...

There are over 3,000 songs posted in the User Showcase, so if only a small % want to be part of the radio, that would be a lot.


Peter

Hi Peter, if you have a Soundcloud account you can readily set up a favorites playlist containing songs from other members whom you "follow." I have one as many forum users also use SC. What I need to check is a determination of whether or not a user can play another user's favorites. And of course this would preclude forum members who do not use SC. But if PG Music had an account you could upload songs from those members. I'm on my iPhone now but I'll look further into SC when we get home.

Cheers
J&B

It appears that there are sites that allow you to create your own radio station... and it appears to be no charge...

https://www.radionomy.com/en/static/produce

I like this idea a lot!

If you can somehow make it work under the umbrella of the PGMusic website, and keep it exclusive to songs created with PGMusic products, it would really stir up interest in your products as the only way to be included in the fun!

I guess it could work either as a downloadable app, or as an integral part of the PGMusic site... but either way, what a great idea!

I think it's a great idea. Having the flexibility to have random selections of genres (anything goes in the mix), or selecting to listen to a 'radio station' by specific style (jazz, pop, rock) etc would definitely be beneficial.

>>> It appears that there are sites that allow you to create your own radio station... and it appears to be no charge...

Floyd,
Thanks. It's an amazing time of the world we live in. Who knew?...you can setup a free radio station, with your own playlists. You know when you're hearing a new idea or product, and it takes a few minutes of (fun) creative thinking to imagine all kinds of interesting things that could be done with that. So thanks for that link, I'll check that out.

Ideally we want something that :

- plays a song "randomly" from the user showcase database ( of songs that composers have approved to be allowed in the radio). Randomly is in quotes, because there might be features to modify the randomness like apple radio has- "less like this". "More like this"
- for each song has a text input page. This would be the type of thing that is present in the very first posting in the user showcase. Namely the composer talking about the song, describing BB/RB Realtracks used, and providing a link to the composers website for more info.

One great thing about songs, is that they sound better with every listen. My mother is 96, and has played music her whole life. She can enjoy Moonlight Sonata as much or more than anyone, even though she's heard it thousands of times. It doesn't work that way other art forms, such as movies, paintings etc. "want to watch Citizen Kane... Nope... Seen it". But if someone says "want to hear' Purple-people-eater' Of course...that's a great song,"

My point here is that any exposure that songs can get from radio airplay should enhance the popularity. For example, you (Floyd) have written an incredible number of great songs. I'd love to hear them as part of the radio repertoire, just as much as like to hear Billy Joel's songs.


Peter

Nice find floyd. I think this site or a similar one would give Peter something very close to what he described. And although the files would have to all uploaded they would likely be much easier to structure for this purpose than with Soundcloud. This is exciting and we hope it comes about!

J&B

I think it is a great idea and had actually made a similar recommendation not thinking of the entire user forum but about the wonderful collaboration currently going on here on the User Forum and organized by Joanne Cooper (JosieC) having various forum members either record with her or create their own cover of one of her originals.

Here is a partial quote:

"This is a big project and quite a testament to the forum talent, camaraderie and skill with the Band in a Box suite of tools.

I think it would be great if PGMusic could find a way to gather all the songs of this project once it is complete so they would be in a User Showcase subset on the forum to be accessed as the complete set together. A PGMusic feature video showcasing the songs and styles much as the videos they release with each new version would also be something to consider.

Much as we hear on a PGMusic video touting RealTracks being real instruments being played by real musicians, how about: These are real people from all around the world, collaborating on real original songs binding it all together on the PGMusic Forum using the suite of Band in a Box/RealBand tools. "

I think this is a good idea for Forum users as well as PGMusic. Hope it all comes together.

Charlie

Hi Peter,

I reckon this is a terrific idea. Some pretty spectacular talent lives in this showcase arena. Like this forum, an internet radio station is another excellent way of letting people hear just what Band In A Box and Realband can accomplish.

For whatever it's worth, you've got my full support.

Regards,
Noel

• latest song: Walk With Me

I think its is a great idea.
May be attract some outside interest as well.
Possibility for advertising PG products also.
I would like to hear the music in its correct genre.
Could have a monthly top forty by allowing others to vote.
I also agree with Pat above.
Rob.

The time is right for this idea.... there are now enough songs on the showcase to play nonstop for quite a long time without ever repeating a song! And if anything, the showcase posts are increasing so fast that even new songs get buried in the avalanche of newer songs.

With the paradigm of a radio station, songs from the past would continually bubble back to the surface, and the shelf life of everybody's songs would improve.

If it was set up to allow the listener to pick a genre or an artist or other criterion for selecting the play list, that would put it in a league with the other big music streaming sites. You might even be able to sell advertising to help pay for the bandwidth!

And with a little promotion on our facebook pages I can easily see the radio station becoming something that people all over the world might start listening to. That kind of exposure could drive people to your sites to buy your music, as well as driving new customers to PGMusic's site.

It is a good idea. As others have indicated I think most listeners would prefer to be able to select the music genre. I'm fine with advertiser supported radio.

I have two questions for discussion. How deep into the User Showcase vault will you go? Do we want current listeners to hear the BiaB sounds from 2010, 2000, etc. Do all UserShowcase songs receive airplay? Using my contributions as examples, I would be honored for "Down In The Valley" to receive airplay as I consider it to be both representative of what I want to do and the best I can do right now. On the other hand, "Fun With Loops", is an exercise.

Hi Peter,

We definitely agree that this is a great idea!
It's hard enough as it is to get airplay for one's compositions in general.
As far as Jim's "How deep into the User Showcase vault will you go?" remark is concerned, we would suggest, that every user contributes only his/her/their best 5...10.. etc songs. This way quality is probably maintained best, while at the same time the database will be kept to a 'doable' size. We think that the average visitor won't be listening for a very long time. Therefore songs should not be too long, to keep the listener's attention. It's not uncommon for people, we found, to only listen to the first verse and chorus

Yes, we do think it's a good idea to create several channels, each with their own style.

Regards,
Rob and Anne-Marie

Great idea.

There's a free streaming site http://myradiostream.com/ that might also be worth checking out as an alternative.

Josie

+1 from me, Peter
Thanks for staying involved with this lovely community ☺

Fred

Hi Peter,

great idea. I'm with it no matter where it goes.

Guenter

Another idea:
Why not use a webjukebox?
Free radiostations/websites will probably ask you to subscribe.
These kind of sites also have a tendency to generate banners, pop ups etc.
The alternative is to create a webjukebox on your website. This way you can control things by yourself: amount of mp3s, sequence, file format etc.
Recently we've created a jukebox on our website. We used the program Coffeecup Webjukebox. It's nothing fancy but it works rather well.
The interface is pretty straightforward and easy in use. You can choose from several skins.

The program and its visuals is probably way too simple for PGM , but it's just to give you an idea:

RnAM Jukebox

We're looking forward to the final concept!

Rob and Anne-Marie

Dr Gannon,

You, sir, have a very fertile mind! (reader discernment advised).

Please count me in.

I listen to music in the background 18 hours daily. It would be awesome to have a station dedicated to the music of my PG Music friends worldwide.

+1

Don

Hey R or AM...
The web site for CoffeeCup

http://www.coffeecup.com/web-jukebox/

shows settings that allow SHUFFLE - but there does not appear to be a Shuffle Button on your jukebox. Is that a global settings - set when you create it?

Also... when you add songs, can you add a URL (for example, could you add a song on my site to your list?) or is it just songs from you computer? Do the songs have to all be uploaded to a specific place?

great idea, mr gannon!

…and for every christmas a "pg label" could release 12 highlights from the user showcase radio for itunes, spotify and other streaming services ;-)

Hi Floyd,

Yes you are right. But we disabled the shuffle button.
Thanks for the link to the program.......uhrm...it's for free now, I paid for it years ago

Rob

Yes it would be great to hear a mixture of the songs.
There must be thousands here I have never heard. Cheers.

Peter, I think this is the best idea I have heard yet for presenting our songs in an additional format. I am not as net savvy as many others on this forum, so I will defer. There seems to be several ideas already presented that are worth pursuing. I believe you have just raised the level of excitement here and we will all be anticipating the next step. Please keep us informed with the progress and we certainly all appreciate what you have done and continue to do for us. Tom

In principle this seems a good idea as long as it does not turn into a competition, like top 10's etc

I'll probably just go with the flow tho

Alyn

Hi Peter, yes, I like the idea, so as far as permission to use the songs, I'm game. There is an internet radio station named IMradio, that uses that concept, in fact I have contributed to it with quite a few songs, (haven't done it in awhile though)and it seems that one of the benefits is that exposes the talents in this forum that write songs and perform in live gigs to a lot of promoters and people looking for new musicians out there. I know of a few whom have gotten contracts this way.

Mike B.

Hello Peter.
Any up date on this idea?
Rob.

Hey everyone,

I'm Chase, I'm an employee at PG Music and will be taking over a lot of the heavy lifting for getting this project up and running. I'm seeing a lot of good ideas for platforms and will be checking them all out, as well as doing some more searching of my own. If anybody else has ideas for platforms, features, anything of the kind, feel free to post them here, I'll be taking all suggestions into account!

No suggestions, just a comment: You have some huge shoes to fill! But, you already knew that.

We users imagine PG Music and Dr Gannon, in particular, to be the ideal, most stimulating work environment anywhere and both sure to keep you at the top of your game.

Keep your stick on the ice and a hardy "Welcome" from Oklahoma (a Southern Province), eh?

Hi peter great ideal this could get huge in so many area,s big job ahead great for pg music and us looking forward to this thanks eric

Peter, Chase,
I'm glad this post rolled back to the first page of the User Forum. I think you're onto another great innovation and aspect of the PGMusic world.
I only have a little time to participate in the forum between work, family, and my own music mischief, so I'd really appreciate a way to hear more of the forum posts more easily. I know I miss a lot of great music.
The forum folks seem to have all the technical and internet smarts to help make this work out. Count me in.

SpaceDog

Hi Chase,

I've researched this quite extensively for the small record label that I have a hand in running.

The best/most traditional way might be using SHOUTCast/IceCast. PGMusic would likely go through a SHOUTCast/IceCast host. You could host it using your own server and bandwidth, but streaming radio uses a lot. The benefit to a station of this kind is that you can listen to it via TuneIn Radio, AOL Radio, Winamp, and various other outlets. Most of these have widely-used Android/iOS apps. You can also create your own Android/iOS app, which many hosts offer as part of their packages.

I hope this helps!

Best,
Mark

*Bump*

Mark,
Thanks for the input. I have some questions about Shoutcast, I've sent you an inbox email.
Peter

At this stage, what we're looking for is the ability for a station to:

#1 - play a set of original songs (composed by the users here). The songs would be sent to us by Users who wanted their songs played on the radio station. So we would manage the station, handling uploads, playlists etc. The users could get the songs removed (by us) from the station if they didn't want them on anymore. We wouldn't be paying anything for playing the songs - this is a "free" radio station with the intent of promoting the songs, composers and PG Music.

#2 - for the songs that play, we want to be able to put a URL, so if someone likes the song, they can click on the URL to find out more about it. Ideally we'd be able to put a few URL's in there, so there'd be a link to the pgmusic forum thread about the song, (that might have lyric) and maybe another direct link to the composer's site.

- so far we have found lots of stations that do #1, but none that do #2 (ie none of them provide ablity to display text info including a clickable URL link).

Does anyone know of a station format that can do #1 ** and #2 ***. If so, please reply here.

We're also looking for a consultant to hire to help us with this. For example, lots of the stations mention that they have an API, and its cusotomizable, which is great. But I'd like to hire someone to help with this, rather than try to learn all this from scratch. Ideal skills would be progamming the station, and/or familiarity with the different off-the-shelf solutions available, and the rules/legalities of streaming in general. If you know of where we could hire a consultant, please let us know in this thread.

[Don] Keep your stick on the ice and a hardy "Welcome" from Oklahoma (a Southern Province), eh?

Hi Don, That sounds cool, I expect then that songs you contribute to the radio from OK should qualify as Canadian Content, thus keeping the CRTC in Canada happy!

Lol, Peter!

My parents were Canucks (Muncton, NB) so I'm a hybrid (aka mongrel; retread). I visited BC countless times while living in Seattle (actually Marysville) and on one occasion, a family in Port Coquitlum (sp?) opened their home to us, a family of 6, for a 4-day convention in Vancouver while they were away on vacation. The people, in general, are absolutely wonderful and the beer is excellent. I still have several cousins in Ontario and New Brunswick.

I've found music to have an intrinsic ability to cross all national borders. Perhaps, one day, I will have the honor and sincere privilege of meeting you in person.

Definitely, my music sales would have a devastating affect on the Balance Of Trade! ,

*Bump*

Peter,

It sounds like a great, if ambitious, idea. One has to wonder when the man responsible for one of the most remarkable feats of imagination in the history of CS is asking us for advice about how to go about it. But things do move rapidly in this area and I wish I could be of help. Unfortunately, you won't get it from this tired old brain, but I think there are so many savvy folks on the Forums that it won't take long to get the directions you need.

As one of the few jazz players on the Forum I think that different categories should include jazz with rock. I fear that very few would listen to jazz a la BIAB if it were alone in its own category.

Great idea, though. If someone is going to pull it off, you'd be the one.

Aleck Rand